Politics
With Biden’s ‘Parole in Place’ Immigration Program Blocked, Local Families Wait for Outcome of Court Battle
Thousands of undocumented individuals are now in limbo after a Texas judge this week blocked one of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
The program allows undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens to apply for a green card and eventually citizenship without leaving the country, a process known as “parole in place.” The White House estimated about 500,000 people were eligible for the program.
Sixteen Republican-led states, including Texas, partnered with America First Legal (AFL) to file the lawsuit last week. In filing the suit, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the program “directly violates the laws created by Congress.”
Immigrants can still apply for the program, but their applications will not be processed until the stay is lifted.
“Me and my family were really excited for the parole in place, but now that we saw they have put a stay on, it’s frustrating and upsetting,” said Illinois Workers in Action Executive Director Giselle Rodriguez. “Especially because we did so much work on different levels not just for me and my family but for the community work that we do.”
Rodriguez co-founded the organization with her husband, who is a U.S. citizen. Their family arrived in the U.S. in 2009 and they have three children together. Rodriguez had plans to file their application today but now they are “stuck in limbo.” Her story is similar to several other immigrants that could benefit from this program.
“It leaves a lot of people who are married to U.S. citizens or have stepchildren who are U.S. citizens without a way to work a permit to add income to the family and be able to progress and move on,” said Paula Roa, an immigration lawyer and legal aid volunteer. “You can’t progress economically or socially and it just leaves your spouse in the dark and unable to move forward as a family.”
NBC News reported that a group of undocumented immigrants and their families are trying to intervene in federal court to defend the parole in place program.
“You’re living in fear and panic that your partner might be deported and they might lose their rights,” said Sam Sanchez, member of the American Business Immigration Coalition and CEO of Third Cost Hospitality.
Through his work, Sanchez has met with several immigrants who have been facing this exact issue for more than 20 years.
“They wanted to move forward with the application,” said Sanchez. “They are tired of living in the shadows. These are business owners, entrepreneurs who contribute to our economy, who create jobs.”
The states included in the lawsuit are Texas, Idaho, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming.
Members of the America First Legal organization say they are fighting blatant illegal acts under the Biden-Harris administration and the open borders agenda. Paxton publicly celebrated the ruling on X, the social media platform, claiming this is “only the first step.”
“The fact of the matter is that both parties have benefited and allowed for a broken immigration system to exist for decades, since Ronald Reagan gave them the opportunity to reset and restructure the laws accordingly in 1987,” said Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward). “We know that both parties, from their own perspectives, have allowed this to persist, either to benefit their constituencies or their corporate interests.”
Rodriguez said former President Trump’s threats of mass deportation play a role in their concerns.
“You always have to plan when you’re a mixed-status family,” Rodriguez said. “For now we have our attorney, and if we ever heard from an immigration officer that would be our first step.”
There are other options for immigrants married to U.S. citizens to apply for citizenship but not everyone is eligible for those and most of those options can take years to go through.
“This doesn’t create a new class of people to be eligible for green cards,” said Roa. “The current pathway for those who entered without status is really expensive, long, and not guaranteed … this parole in place forgives this entry allows for much faster, affordable and accessible for the unity of families.”
